One of our industry’s top competitors, Azumi Kanene Williams says time constraints and temperature are her greatest challenges in the competition arena. “For instance, in Salon Success, we’re allotted only one-and-a-half hours and just about every competition is freezing cold. The temperature not only increases drying time, but can also numb the fingers,” says the ONS team member and owner of Azumi Nail in Honolulu.

Her solution and advice to others: Sculpt the Salon Success-style French nails as close to credit card thin as possible so you don’t have to spend as much time filing and can devote more time to polish and clean up. “I used to not consider those things very important, but no longer. Many points can be lost for sloppy finishing work and often the difference between winning and losing can be just one point,” says Kanene Williams. “I find making a timetable and having my model inform me of the time situation during the competition also helps a lot.”

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